Depending on the type of construction or the purpose of use, skis have different widths so that it has been common up to now to select the spacing between the braking arms of such a size that the brake mechanisms for skis are suitable for all types of constructions of skis. However, these known brake mechanisms cannot meet the above conditions and are therefore not well suited for use.
One has now tried to reduce this disadvantage by moving the braking arms during their upward swing from the braking position into the downhill or retracted position toward one another, and by thus pulling them in, if desired, totally or partly onto the upper side of the ski. However, such a pulling in of the braking arms is possible only to a limited extent so that these conventional ski brakes have only a very limited field of use and cannot be used for all ski widths which are common today.
On the other hand, ski brakes also have already become known, in which the braking arms rest elastically on the narrow sides of the skis, which facilitates an adjustment to the respective width of the ski. Such a construction, however, has the disadvantage that both the narrow sides of the skis and also in particular the braking arms are subjected to a heavy wear due to the sharp edges of the skis. Also considerable frictional forces can be created thereby, which reduce the effective erecting power of the braking arms.
Therefore, the basic purpose of the invention is to provide a brake mechanism for skis which can be adjusted to all common ski widths by avoiding the above-mentioned disadvantages.
The invention provides structure for permitting the spacing between the braking arms to be adjustable by means of a spacer which connects both holding arms.
This spacer has preferably two openings, through which the holding arms of the ski brake extend. The spacing between the braking arms can now be adjusted at an optimum to the respective ski width, by for example exchanging the spacer in correspondence with the respective ski width, or by varying the width of the spacer. For this purpose, the spacer preferably has two webs which extend between the holding arms, the relative length of which webs can be adjusted by bending toward one another or away from one another, for example by means of a screw or an eccentric.
It can also be advantageous if the spacer consists of profiled parts which can be moved one in the other, the position of which can be fixed for example by means of a screw.
A preferred exemplary embodiment for adjusting the spacing between the braking arms is characterized by the spacer being movable along the holding arms and by the holding arms extending sloped or curved to one another. Thus, it is possible by a simple movement of the spacer along the holding arms to adjust the spacing between the braking arms corresponding with the width of the skis. The spacer is thereby preferably movably guided in dependency of the path of swing of the holding arms along said holding arms, so that the spacing between the braking arms changes in addition in dependency from their respective position. Thus an automatic pulling in of the braking arms during movement of the same from the braking position into the downhill or retracted position can be achieved. It is preferable when the spacer is pivotally secured to a holding or base plate through a lever. To adjust the spacing between the braking arms to the respective ski width, it is preferable if the effective lever length is variable, in particular if the position of the spacer can be adjusted on the lever by means of a setscrew.